Wholemeal Crank

After several more bouts of brewing with gaiwans, I am now reasonably proficient in getting water in and tea out of the gaiwan with little spillage and in a very short time. Tilt lid, then pour, all is well.

To really work with a tea that permits 8, 12, or more infusions, when brewing and drinking by myself, I need a very large bladder or a very small teapot or gaiwan. The smaller teapot or gaiwan seems like it should be easier to obtain than a bladder augmentation. So far, my smallest brewing vessels are a set of 60mL yixing pots. My smallest gaiwans hold more like 100mL. What do you prefer for smaller volumes of tea--smaller gaiwans, smaller pots, or to not fill the gaiwan or pot for each infusion?

A coffee machine cleaner sounds like a good idea. I heard about a product called dip it, but really don't know where to go to find this kind of stuff--target doesn't carry it, nor do my local grocers (x3 so far) or the local hardware store (x2). May have to order it.

I have a variation on this question: at work, I routinely brew up a quart thermos full of tea, and carry that with me for the afternoon, or through the evening. I then rinse it several times at the end of the day, and set it upside down on a mini-dish-drainer overnight to drain and dry. Needless to say, it has built up a patina. Recently I brewed up a very nice silver needle tea that started out nice and delicately flavored, but as the afternoon wore on, it got a little 'earthy' tasting--a bit more like the pu-erhs and oolongs I more often drink. So I wanted to get it sparkling clean. I have two of these stanley stainless vacuum bottles, the narrow-necked 1 quart size, deeper than any of my bottle brushes, basically impossible to get anything in there you could manually scrub with. I first tried a bit of dilute bleach--something between 1:5 and 1:10 bleach:hot water, soaked it for an hour, and rinsed well. I saw some gray/black color towards the bottom of the inside, decided this was not a good thing to have done, and resolved to try something else. Reading elsewhere and talking in another online forum and much googling later, I tried a couple of efferdent tablets in warm water for the other thermos, which was also a bit brown inside. After an hour, I rinsed it, and found a much larger black discoloration inside, that looked like some coating was eaten away. It was fairly clean, however. But later some efferdent tablets did nothing for a small glass teapot (wasn't worried the tablets could *eat* that), and wasn't impressed by the performance--not as good as the dishwasher usually is. Baking soda in hot water overnight also did nothing--tried that before I ran errands and got the efferdent. I'm feeling a bit wary of the other things I've seen suggested--soaking with hand dishwashing liquid; just dumping in vinegar (might eat the steel if soaked in it); shaking it with salt and ice (scratchy, but effect?); or citrus oil (would take a lot of expensive oil to really do the inside of these things, and might eat the plastic fittings, plus flavor the tea for a while). So....what do you all suggest for tea stains on 'stainless' [hah!] steel that you can't reach to scrub off or put in the dishwasher? I'm going to replace at least the 2nd Stanley thermos and want to keep that one in good shape.

great suggestion, thanks!

So far I can find Michel Cluizel chocolates use no lecithin, but don't know if they make chips. What would you use for chocolate chip cookies for someone with a severe soy allergy?

A little more gong fu last night 2006 Hainan "Purple Bud" Sheng Pu-Erh Tea Cake from norbutea.com label warned that purple anthocyanins can be bitter, so I used a quite low leaf to water ratio per their suggestion 1 gram in 100mL yixing pot, preheated rinsed 20 seconds waited 2 minutes or so first steeping boiling water 15 seconds--fruity, tart, smoky, thick body, wow 2nd steeping, 20 seconds--similar 3rd steeping, 20 seconds--still incredibly fruity, bit of earthiness coming on 5th at 30 30 seconds--more earthy, less fruity, decreasing body a bit A very interesting tea. I think this is going to continue to age well. And I have made a temporary inroad on the aging tea problem--put the larger portion of my pu cakes in envelopes in a file drawer of my desk at work. It's a bit more climate-controlled than my house, at least.

This weekend also brewed a little more of the keemun Mao Feng black tea from Chado, and it was quite lovely this time. Brewed with a lower leaf/water ratio (about 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves to 6 ounces of water) and a little more brewing time, and it was lovely, fruity, with some mild astringency but almost no bitterness. I am still not finding those chocolate notes that are supposed to be there in this one, but even without that, it is a lovely tea.

Did a more formal tasting of some high-quality green oolongs this weekend, comparing 3 Ti Kuan Yins with the Alishan Oolong we tasted here recently. All were brewed in gaiwans with 2.5g tea to 2 oz water at about 195 degrees, with preheated gaiwans and leaves rinsed once before brewing. I started out with infusions at about 1 minute, and gradually increased to 2, 3 and even 4 for the one that I kept on with the longest, but didn't keep detailed enough notes to know at which infusion the times changed. I also worked with an interesting aged version from norbutea.com, which was entirely unlike the others. Harney & Sons Spring Floral Ti Quan Yin after rinse, leave smell like a green tea--vegetal, a bit astringent 1-flavor like the scent--not very rich, very green, barely oolong-ish 2-less flavor 2nd time around....set leaves aside and continued with some others came back to this 30 min or more later, reinfused, and oh wow, sweetness and floral restored and better than at first, so different, now really showing itself as a lovely floral oolong tea. Chado Champagne Ti Kuan Yin not a strongly scented leaf after rinse delicious mild liquor, softly floral still good at 2nd but not nearly as good at this point as those from norbuteas came back to this also 30 min or more later, reinfused, and was amazed at how much it had opened up and become an interesting tea several more infusions were also very nice Norbu Diamond Tie Guan Yin, spring 2009 harvest leaves--most floral of all, strongly scented, sweet, I'm in love sweet, rich body, same for several more infusions, gradually less floral, still delicious (just ordered more) still sweet 6 infusions how can it be so sweet after 8 infusions? unbelievable kept on to a 4 or 5 minute 11th infusion, at which point it was pretty much done. Norbu Alishan High Mountain Oolong spring 2009 harvest leaves--sweet, hay, floral closer to the Diamond Tie Guan Yin in flavor than in scent--the scent is less overwhelming a bit fruity in later infusions amazing stuff, ditto vs the diamond tie guan yin--losing scent a bit, but still huge flavor somewhere around 6th insfusion in--still fruitier than the tie guan yin stopped infusing at 8th or so And the aged stuff: Norbutea 1990s aged tie guan yin 1g/1 oz water, in smallest yixing pot: 1st infusion is sweet, fruity, winey, something else I can't define. similar 2nd infusion; tastes a bit like brandy, maybe? As I don't drink much alcohol, can't define it better than that, but it's a bit of a fermented taste, and not really a selling point for me. 4 or 5 infusions in--still hint of brandy, but now starting to show fruity, floral more; and a little earthiness opening up. Interesting stuff.

Went back later on a Saturday afternoon, and asked to taste the best dragon well tea, and which grade was the closest to the one in the tin that I'd bought. The first one I'd bought was about $10/oz in bulk, and the one I tasted was $15/oz in bulk. It was notably much nuttier, tasting strongly of vegetables like a sweet young asparagus, and fairly astringent although not strongly bitter, and that was probably in part because it was brewed with quite hot water (they use one urn of hot water for all the sample teas). I bought a small quantity and will play with it more at home.

This evening, yet another thermos full of tea--lots of dictations to be edited, sigh--and am immensely enjoying some 'Big Red Robe' Oolong from Chado. It has been a while since I last brewed some, and it is a delightful rediscovery. Earthy, darkly roasted, complex with sweetness and some fruity, floral, and vegetal notes. I had a surprising experience this evening: my 'supertaster' kit arrived--an envelope with a tiny ziploc bag and two strips of paper inside that are supposed to be impregnated with a bitter chemical, likely propylthiouracil (although they actually do not say in the brief letter that came with the kit) and was shocked that I did not taste much, if any, bitterness. Given how much aversion I still have to bitter flavors, I was sure that I would at least be a 'taster' who would taste something mildly bitter if not pucker inducing. Now wondering if there was a problem with the test kit, or if there really is some hope of me learning to cope with more bitter teas. Until I figure this out, though, I won't go out of my way to stock up on any japanese teas, particularly given your experience with the gyokuro.

Today, the first thermos-full for a long meeting was the Alishan mountain oolong from norbutea. The only problem with this and the diamond tie guan yin I made yesterday is that they are so delicious they encourage excess rates of consumption, which can have slighty uncomfortable consequences when the meeting is a long one..... And then, a bulk brewing of the 2007 norbu white buds sheng pu erh from yunnan, which was entirely tolerant of this treatment, remaining a little sweet, earthy, and deliciously smoky.

Yesterday I started with a a piece of my Palace Seven Sons Puerh Cake from Nannuo Mountain Plantation in Yunnan, brewed to yield a quart and a half of tea, more impressed as I drank my way to the end of all that by the smoothness and sweetness of this tea. Then last evening, a pot of Pouchong from Ten Ren, a delightful tea despite being only 'third grade'. Today, had a less than perfect brewing of some Rishi Golden Yunnan black tea, which just was a little off from what I was hoping for today--a little black tea bitterness crept through despite some care in the brewing. And this evening, to make up for that, some Diamond Grade Tie Guan Yin from Norbu tea, which makes an interesting pair with the Pouchong. It has more in common with that than with the dark roast Ti Kuan Yin I grew up drinking. But it is a silkier, smoother, sweeter tea, with richer body than the Pouchong 3rd grade. Need to reserve some of this Tie Guan Yin from Norbu and compare it to a top-quality Pouchong for a more interesting brew-off.

Today I've been drinking the Palace Seven Sons Cake from Nannuo Mountain Plantation in Yunnan, the cake that seemed quite 'muddy' the first time I drank it. I suspect that the fines I was brewing were very dusty, and I did not rinse them, and being from the outside of the cake, they were differently aged and worse for wear. This is the fourth or fifth brewing of this pu, and today my impression is still one of earthy and sweetness, but a mellowed earthiness, and a sweetness that is not fruity or cloying but just there, and very nice.

I noticed after posting that that my pu cake fragment (just an edge of the cake, broken off by hand) opened up noticeably and was pretty much loose leaves by the 2nd infusion.

A different pu question, and maybe a new one: I understand the rationale for rinsing a pu tea before the first infusion proper begins. But when working with a chunk of very dense, compressed pu, how do you balance the need to let it soak long enough to soften and open the inner bits with wanting to not actually draw all the good stuff out of the outer leaves? Should I be breaking up the denser chunks a bit? Swirling the leaves the pot with the rinse water for the whole 20 seconds? Doing a 2nd or third rinse until the force of the water on it opens it up? I didn't have much issue with this on Saturday, when I was mostly working with samples, but now I've got a larger chunk of a regular cake facing me, and would like to do it justice.

Case in point, the 2nd pu-erh cake I bought from Ten Ren: the first brewing tasted just like mud. Not bitter, not horrible, but just like mud--while basically trying to duplicate the brewing conditions I typically used for my first pu cake, with no major deviations that I could think of. The 2nd & subsequent brewings were delicious, very nice pu.

Still working on tea vocabulary....today I am drinking two pints of tea prepared this morning and in thermoses all day, not the perfect conditions for a fine head-to-head, but enough to give a good start. One was 'Fanciest formosa oolong' from Harney & Sons, and the other 'Champagne Ti Kuan Yin S-365' from Chado. Off this 'bulk' brewing I can say that the Champagne Ti Kuan Yin is similar in character to the diamond grade tie guan yin from norbutea.com and their alishan high mountain oolong--warm, floral, aromatic, fruity, really no hint of bitter, a gracious tea start to finish. The formosa oolong is a different and interesting critter, and I am only sad to say that the sample was so small--5 grams--that I don't have any more left for a more formal brewing and tasting. But it was a lovely tea something between the fruitiest golden yunnan black teas and these lighter greener new style ti kuan yins and taiwanese oolongs. The leaves were darker and slender, but despite the darker color, it did not have the smoky or roasted notes I expect from the darker traditional roast of my red-tin ti kuan yin. It did taste like 'tea'--a hint of something lipton-like but I mean that in the best sense, not bitter, not strongly astringent, and not really vegetal like green teas or green vegetables either. Because of my problems with bitter flavors, I suspect I will continue to spend most of my time with the oolongs and puerhs, with side trips to the most delicate black teas, and now that I have discovered the incredible floral essences of the greener oolongs, will drink less of the jasmines that, being mostly based on green teas, are a bit more problematic to brew.

Wikipedia has a nice article about puerh including the processing of it here. Most of the puerh I was reporting on in the two tastings above were 1 oz or 25 gram samples. It seems like a good way to educate my palate. I also need to get back to wing hop fung on a day when they're less crazy busy to see if I can sample my way through some of their older pus.

After yesterday's pu-erh tastings, I wanted to go simpler today, and I'm going to be on the road a bit, so brewed up a pint of yellow tea from vitaltleaf.com (5 grams of tea in the 200mL glass pot, infused a total of three times for 1 1/2-2 minutes each.. I was trying to restock a lovely tea I bought someplace that looked almost like a black tea with a lot of golden tips, but was a few shades lighter, scented strongly of fruit, and made delicate, mildly fruity infusions. I thought I bought it at their shop in San Francisco on a trip there last year. This brewing came out a bit darker, a touch smoky, and not sure if it was a difference in the brewing or a different batch of the tea--or if I was confused and the yellow tea was from a different source originally. Also trying a pint batch of 'champagne ti kwan yin' S-329 from chadotea.com, a very light green leaf, 5 grams in the 180 mL yixing pot, several infusions of about a minute. First sips are very nice, and it deserves a head-to-head with the diamond grade ti kuan yin from norbutea.com soon. Maybe next week. But today, brewing quicker & in bulk for the roadtrip. And that Dian Hong Imperial sounds marvelous. A close cousin to the golden yunnans I've been loving.

1 gram per 30mL, the 0.1 was a typo from thinking I was going to do an even smaller quantity, until I looked at how tiny 0.5g was. I was trying to scale back to a small quantity so that I could indeed drink several infusions of each tea; and guessing by eyeball that I probably normally do enough infusions from about 10 grams for a quart of tea, and trying to aim for a similar ratio. The tea liquors from all of the shu/cooked pu-erhs looked about what I expected, although the 3 sheng/raw pu-erhs from yesterday had much lighter infusions. As I work with the scale I'll have a better idea of what I've really been doing, and adjust accordingly.

A similar setup to this morning--these mini tastings were inspired by the Harney guide to teas saying that while developing your palate, it's best to do several teas in a group at once, to highlight their different characteristics. All four ripe/cooked/shu pu erhs happened to be from from norbutea.com: preheated cups, 0.1g tea to 30mL, water just off the boil rinsed 20 seconds, drained, set about 2 minutes before brewing... round 1: 10 seconds: all of them are much darker liquors than all but the 1992 pu-erh from the earlier brewing round 2: 15 seconds round 3: 30 seconds round 4: 30 seconds round 4: 45 seconds round 5: 45 seconds round 6: 60 seconds and smelled the leaves again for a description after the 6th brewing. 2006 Hainan Tea Factory "Peacock Quest" from Yunnan 1-warm earthy slightly smoky bit of fruit/sweetness 2-earthy, bit of bitter, no sweet this time 3-sweet before earthy, no bitter except at the aftertaste 4-(accidentally 55 seconds) bit more bitter, earthy, the sweet is missing from this one 5-fruity and earthy, much less bitter than the previous 6-more fruity coming up, just a hint of sweet, almost tangy Leaves sweet, fruity, caramel, not strong earthy 2007 Yong De Zi Yu Tea Factory Ecological Old Tree RIpe Cake, Yunnan 1-primary impression of earthiness, nothing else really strong yet 2-very smooth, again no dominant flavors--bit of sweet, bit of earthy, touch of smoke 3-again, very balanced, nothing stands out 4-balanced, warm, earthy, bit more bitter 5-Just not enough tea to water? still mellow and a bit thin, but nothing objectionable otherwise 6-still thin, a little lightweight, mild Leaves also mild scent 2007 Mengyang Guoyan Tea Factory Golden Peacock from Yunnan 1-mellow, warm, earthy, quiet 2-warm, caramel, grounded, bit of bitter 3-more sweet notes, warm & earthy 4-fruity, earthy, bit of sweet 5-fruity first, then earthy 6-woody, fruity still there, but more earthy again Leaves earthy, woody, caramel notes 2006 Haiwan "Gong Ting" 100g Shu Pu-Erh Tea Tribute Brick (a very lovely compressed tea with a special stamp) 1-earthy, some sweetness, hint of bitter 2-hint of fruit, earthy 3-sweet first, then earthy, then bit of bitter 4-sweet, fruity, lovely, bitter and earthy essentially absent 5-fruity more than sweet, earthy, hint of bitter 6-fruity, sweet, hint of bitter Leaves sweet, earthy, not much tart/fruity however All of these teas still have more to give, but my capacity for drinking tea at one time, even 30 cc at a sip, is not unlimited. I also need to work on my tea flavor vocabulary, as I'm falling back too often on the same words while recognizing that the teas are more complex than that. I like the first and the last one best, although I think the 2nd one simply needed more tea to show off its true nature better. The back and forth they show between sweeter and earthier and fruity in different infusions was very interesting. I only have a tasting sample of each, except for the brick, but have filled my tea cabinet at home and tea drawer at work quite thoroughly. I need to drink through what I have to some extent before I can get more, although there is the enchanting prospect of building up a library of pus for future drinking. And, though at home I have no good setup for aging pus (presently no AC and no interest in investing in a wine cooler to keep temps steady for them), I could put a box of them in the office at work--a bit dry, but the A/C at least keeps things steady temperature, and I could add a bit of humidity easily as discussed up topic if so inclined. Hmmm....

As I only have a sample, I can't age it, but I have to imagine that it will be lovely when aged, with a lot of the bitter converting to sweet. Still, I found the 2008 bamboo sheng already lovely now. So even among young shengs, if I can get sample to check them first, there may be some treasures.

I will keep to older pu's from now on when I am looking at the raw versions. And am now very curious about the 'purple bud' 2006 sheng cake I bought from norbutea as well, which says in the description that the purple leaves have a strong bitter note. But it is a 2006, so a bit older still than the 2007 and 2008 which were both quite nice. But that's a matter for another tasting.

Clearly you need more tea with a high leaf to water ratio, not my near-water version!